Practicing Major Chords

When you first start learning chords, it seems to be an overwhelming task. Here are some suggestions that will make memorizing and playing chords easier and more effective.

1. Limit what you practice. It is quite impossible to learn everything in one day. The only way to build a large building is one stone at the time. Then before you know it, you will have come a long way. There also is a seemingly infinite amount of information to learn, so you always will want to learn more.

2. Listen. You will remember the way the chord sounds and the way it feels to your fingers much better than plain theory alone. Combine the act of listening and feeling with the theoretical knowledge, and you will learn much more quickly.

3. Make your own exercises for each chord you learn. Transpose everything you do into all twelve keys and practice them.

We will start with major chords. A major chord is made of a major third and minor third. The notes of the C major chord are C, E and G. If you keep transposing all notes of this chord a half-step up, you will eventually play all of the major chords. You might want to start with just the right hand:

After you play this exercise a couple of times, add the left hand, playing same notes two octaves lower:

When you become comfortable with this exercise, you can use my book, Jazz Piano Chords, to find more chords. Make your own exercises using the chords. Make sure you play the exercises with a full sound and not too quickly. Listen to the sound and remember what it feels like, and in a very short time chords will no longer be a mystery.